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Copenhagen celebrates continuing baby boom

Christian Wenande
March 13th, 2017


This article is more than 7 years old.

Over 10,000 babies born in the Danish capital last year

More little delights have arrived (photo: Pixabay)

Boosted by over 10,000 newborns last year, the population of Copenhagen keeps on increasing.

The population of Copenhagen exceeded 600,000 in 2016, thanks partly to the 10,091 babies born – over 500 more than in 2015. Frank Jensen, the mayor of the city, praised the figures.

“It’s great that Copenhagen keeps growing and that Copenhageners are having more children,” said Jensen.

“I interpret the development as Copenhagen being a lovely city to live in and to have children in.”

The number of births has considerably shot up in the capital in recent years, well up from the 8,554 born in 2008, and 110,000 more people are expected to live in the city by 2030 – an increase of almost 20 percent.

READ MORE: Baby boom threatening Danish maternity wards

More expat settlers
Statistics also showed that the trend is down to the average woman in Copenhagen having more children. The number of children per woman increased from 1.54 in 2015 to 1.63 last year.

It was particularly ethnic Danes who are having more children – the number of children per woman with a non-western immigrant background has actually declined in recent years to a level below ethnic Danish women.

Another reason for the growth spike in the city is the large number of people moving in from abroad. Out of the approximately 11,000 increase last year, 4,446 came from overseas and in total, about 35,000 have come to Copenhagen from abroad since 2007.

Interestingly, in recent years more and more people are moving from Copenhagen to other parts of Denmark compared to people moving to the capital from other municipalities in the country.


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A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”